Pentagon Looks for ‘Rugged, Militarily Useful’ Lasers

For years, the military has overseen the slow, steady development of stronger and stronger lasers. Now, the Pentagon’s High Energy Laser Joint Technology Office says they are just about ready to take the first, halting steps towards moving "beyond the science and technology development stage" — and into early weapons designs.

Electric lasers are on the cusp of hitting 100 kilowatts — widely considered to be strong enough for battlefield duty. So now the High Energy Laser Joint Technology Office, or HEL-JTO, is beginning to look for ways in which the ray guns can incorporated into ships and planes and fighting vehicles.

In a newly-released request for information, HEL-JTO is asking for designs for "a high power, high efficiency, cost effective, electrically-driven laser system" that can be turned into a "ruggedized and militarily useful module." The designs should be be able to scale up "to very high power." And they should be able to ready to deploy in "ground, sea, or air based platforms used in military operations."

These lasers could be used in all sorts of war zone scenarios, the office says:
zapping roadside explosives, blasting "ballistic threats such as rockets, mortars, artillery, and unmanned aerial vehicles" from the ground or sea; or attacking ground targets from the air, in "precision strike engagements."

"The electrically driven laser package should include the laser device, the power conversion and storage, and the cooling," HEL-JTO
adds. And the "technology proposed must be rugged, robust and capable of packaging on a military platform (i.e. small and light weight)."

Defense contractors aren’t waiting around for the government. Raytheon has mocked-up its new blaster prototype on a heavy vehicle. Boeing has got sketches of its laser truck concept.
But don’t expect to see laser-armed forces to roll into Iraq, quite yet. According to HEL-JTO, even the leading designs will require at least "three to four year[s]" of laboratory testing, first.